Pages

Friday, September 07, 2007

Madeleine L'Engle

I was quite busy today so I was late reading the news that Madeleine L'Engle has passed away. I feel I knew her through her books. Just this past couple of months, I reread the first three of the Time Trilogy (now a Time Quintet) and fell in love with them all over again. I believe the mother in these books is one of my favorite fictional characters.

These books are:

A Wrinkle In Time

A Wind In the Door

A Swiftly Tilting Planet

How happy I am that she persevered to get these lovely books published. They aren't your normal "religious" fiction books. Yet, like the beloved Narnia series, one finds themselves lost in the pages and Truth comes to us in disguised forms.

I know fantasy isn't everyone's "cup of tea" but I do enjoy it so. Perhaps it is the English and Irish genes which flow from my Southern mother. Somewhere in my past, I'm certain there was a grandmother who talked about the wee folks and were positive her cats knew what she was talking about (I was so happy to see that side of Beatrix Potter's personality come through in Miss Potter).

I have a couple of Madeleine's nonfiction books tucked back in my "to read soon" stack. Perhaps they should become a priority this autumn. I expect she is now viewing wonders far above anything she could think of in her amazing imagination, far past the limitations of time and space. The world is just a little bit dimmer without her.

Brenda, have you seen the movie "Nanny McPhee"? It popped into my head when you mentioned "Miss Potter". I saw the previews at the theatre last year and thought to myself, "That's one movie I'll never bother seeing." It looked WAY too weird.LOL.Then last spring a friend mentioned she had rented it and loved it. She warned me it wasn't your typical movie but she gave it such glowing reviews that when I saw it later at Blockbuster I took the plunge myself. I LOVED it. I even watched it twice before returning it-something I never (okay, very rarely) do.I think you would enjoy it.joanna :)

Ciao Brenda,thanks for letting me know about this interesting writer; I'll try to get the trilogy you have mentioned; I love fantasy books too, they are my nice cup of tea, especially in rainy days. I love sitting in my room reading book when the weather outside is gloomy, yet it doesn't happen very often, I mean that it's really rare I have some spare time to sit and read novels...ciao from Romefreddie

Wow...I didn't know she had passed until I read your post. I have always loved her books and I am reading "A Wrinkle In Time" with my boys right now. I had loved the series as a child and have read many of her adult books also. She had such an interesting way of weaving science, art, and Christianity into her stories that drew me in. My secret fantasy was to grow up to be Mrs. Murry in "Wrinkle." She was raising children, puttering in the lab, mixing the domestic life with a passion for her work. She had it all.